YouTuber Nihal Pillai shares how a fraudster cheated his family of ₹9 lakh

Actor and YouTuber Nihal Pillai, who is also the brother-in-law of actress Poornima Indrajith, has opened up about being cheated in a large-scale financial scam. In a candid video shared on his YouTube channel, Nihal revealed that he and his family were victims of fraud by a contractor they had trusted with the construction of their house.

According to Nihal, the contractor accepted a substantial advance but neither started the construction work nor returned the money. The ordeal, he said, left the family devastated. His wife Priya, who was pregnant at the time, suffered a miscarriage—something Nihal believes was triggered by the stress caused by the situation.

“We had approached this person to build a house on a plot in front of my sister-in-law’s home,” Nihal explained. “He quoted a lower rate than others and presented himself very convincingly. He used to show up in a luxury Benz car, which gave us a sense of security. So, we went ahead and paid him an advance of ₹9 lakh, which we raised by mortgaging Priya’s gold.”

The contractor claimed the money was for laying the foundation rods. However, no work was done. Initially, he paid interest on the mortgaged gold for a few months, but soon cut off all communication and abandoned the project.

Around the same time, the contractor was also working on a building for Nihal’s sister. That too was left incomplete midway. “Everything collapsed. I slipped into depression,” Nihal admitted.

Later, the contractor claimed he would return the money and even handed over a cheque—but it was invalid as it lacked his signature. “He said he couldn’t come home and left the cheque at the construction site,” Nihal said. “When we contacted him about the missing signature, he promised to fix it but never came back.”

As the family struggled with the emotional and financial strain, the pandemic hit, making things worse. “It’s been eight years, and we still haven’t recovered from that trauma,” Nihal said. “Priya lost the baby around that time. I genuinely believe it was due to the stress. That man harassed us to that extent.”

Nihal said he was prompted to finally speak out after watching Diya Krishna’s recent video about her own experience of being betrayed. “It’s painful to admit that someone you trusted cheated you. That phase was the worst in our family’s life. We felt like running away from everything.”

Although Nihal did not name the contractor, he shared that the man’s office is located above a well-known hotel in the city. “I don’t want to name and shame anyone, but people should be aware. I even heard he duped a church after taking on a building contract for them.”

Eventually, Nihal shared the ordeal through a video on his YouTube channel. The video went viral and reached even the contractor’s friends and family. “That’s when he called me, begging me to take down the video and not mention his name. This was the same man who once tried to intimidate us—now he was pleading with me and my mother.”

Despite boasting of political and police connections, the contractor couldn’t scare them anymore. Nihal said he had solid evidence and wasn’t afraid. “Many others have been conned by him. Social media gave us the voice we didn’t have before. Once our video got attention, he got scared. That’s the power of this platform.
After the video gained traction, the contractor started returning small amounts of money. “He hasn’t paid everything back yet,” Nihal said, “but at least now he’s scared. And that’s something.”